Fix You
by WriterInTheMaking101
Summary: When the 'gang' comes down to Westchester to spend a weekend with Monica and Chandler, two days that were supposed to be fun and lighthearted, drastically change as a disasterous event leads to the disappearance of Emma. Full summary inside!
1. Chapter 1

**Well, one of my TV stations is playing Friends from the very beginning every night at 7:30, and I've become so dangerously (re) obsessed that I just had to write a fanfiction about it! I apologize greatly if not everyone is in character, or if the jokes are a little poor, because how could anyone ever be as funny as the original writers? This is only my second time writing a Friends fan fiction, and the first where the must be some element of humour to it. **

**Anyway! This story is set approximately two years after the series finale; Emma is four, Jack and Erica are two, and Phoebe and Mike have twins named Aubrey and Frankie, about a year old. The 'gang' comes down to visit Chandler and Monica for a weekend, in what is supposed to be a visit spent catching up and just getting to see each other. However, when a horrible event leads to the disappearance of Emma, it's going to take a lot more than a weekend of relaxtion to find her.**

**Disclaimer: It is, or should be, blatantly obvious to everyone reading this, that I have absolutely nothing to do with Friends. All credit goes to the stunning creators of this show, I'm just like that little demented girl that plays with her friend's Barbies because her parent's are too poor to buy her ones. So, enjoy! **

Emma had been watching Rachel for what, to a four year old girl, felt like nine hours, but had really only been ten minutes, when she finally decided enough was enough and a Mommy could only sleep for so long. At first, she tried being gentle and quiet.

"Mommy," she whispered into Rachel's ear. "Hey, Mommy." She then tried tugging on Rachel's shirt sleeve. "Oh, Mommy. Hey, wake up."

After a few minutes of this, Emma lost all sense of trying to be good, and instead hurled her tiny body on top of Rachel's. "HEY, MOMMY!"

Rachel's eyes opened immediately, wide and startled. "Emma?"

"Yes, Mommy?" Emma batted her long eyelashes.

"Sweetheart, do you have any idea what time it is?"

Emma stared at the clock. "Hm. Well. No, I do not because you see I am just four and Mrs. Liotta only teaches us how to make Play Doh elephants, and not how to tell time."

"It's seven thirty. On a Saturday."

"I brought something to warm you up," Emma flashed Rachel a smile and held up a finger. "One moment." She dashed to the bedroom door and then came back, carrying a bowl of.. something.

"Em, honey? What is that?"

"Oh, Mommy. I mixed Snicker's bird food, some Frosted Flakes, a pinch of sugar and Halloween candy from last year that Daddy wouldn't let me eat. I hope you like it, because it took me about three years to make it and I messed it up once so there is a little bit of an accident in the kitchen. Good thing Auntie Monica's not visitin'," Emma giggled.

Rachel smiled. "Well you know what? I think I'm going to put this in the garbage, but why don't we make pancakes and then we can watch some cartoons until Daddy gets home."

"Daddy's been gone forever."

"Only two days."

"Well it feels like forever."

"I know. He has a very important conference in New Jersey-"

"Mommy," Emma crinkled her eyebrows. "Daddy works with **dinosaurs**. How important can his conference be?"

Rachel hid her smile as she yawned, taking Emma's hand as they walked downstairs together, recalling all the taunts that had been thrown in the direction of Ross about his job. "Heeeey, Mommy? You said we were going to make the pancakes?"

"Sure! Who says we can't make pancakes? We can put little chocolate chips in them."

Emma tried a smile. "Mommy? Just sayin'. Last time we tried to make pancakes, 'member we almost burnt the kitchen down?"

"Em, Em.. you're right. So instead we will have cereal with bananas on top, okay?"

Emma winked and showed Rachel her thumb. "Sounds good to me."

Then, the two of them put on an old Elvis CD that Ross refused to get rid of, and danced around the kitchen to _Blue Suede Shoes, You Ain't Nothin' But a Houndog _and _Jailhouse Rock_, before they collapsed onto the couch, Rachel holding a mug of coffee and a glass bowl of cereal, Emma carefully balancing a Barbie cup of orange juice and her plastic Clifford cereal bowl.

They ended up falling asleep, half an hour later, watching infomercials, because neither of them could be bothered to find the remote, which was constantly being lost and then found, weeks later, in the crevices of the couch or in Snicker's water bowl.

Emma's head rolled over onto Rachel's shoulder, Rachel's hand holding Emma's. They slept like that for two hours and they both had happy dreams.

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S****.****F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"Daddy," Chandler said, slowly and deliberately.

Jack smiled. "Mommy," he jabbed Chandler in the forehead.

"Daddy," Chandler tried once more. He pointed into the kitchen, where Monica was consoling a sobbing Erica, who had just fallen down the stairs. "There's Mommy. I'm Daddy."

"Mommy," Jack said, pointing to Monica, "Mommy," he giggled in Chandler's face.

"Dear god Monica," Chandler called. "Jack is doomed. He is doomed to live my life."

"M-Mommy," Erica wailed into Monica's shoulder.

"I know sweetheart. Look, Mommy will kiss it better," Monica bent down and kissed all around the scrape on Erica's knee. "Better?"

Erica shrugged and allowed Monica to pick her up from the counter and bring her into the kitchen. Erica stuck her thumb into her mouth and nestled her head into Monica's shoulder. "Poor baby," Monica smiled over top of Erica's head, kissing her head of blond curls.

"Trade?" Chandler asked.

"Chandler," Monica said, as she handed Erica over to him, "they're not things. They're our little babies, aren't you?" Jack laughed, Erica scrambling into Chandler's lap.

"Erica knows who I am, don't you? Daddy."

Erica looked up at Chandler, her eyes wide and serious. She gave him a toothy grin before saying, in a tinkling voice that Monica was convinced would one day end up in theatres, "Mommy."

"Monica, do I **look **womanly to you?"

Monica considered this, bouncing Jack on her lap.

"Hey! Took waay too long to respond there, Mon."

Monica rolled her eyes, before settling into Chandler. "This is nice," Monica said lazily. Jack stuck Monica's finger into his mouth, sucking on it happily.

"Oh, Jack," Monica removed her finger. "Yuck. No eating fingers. So. When are we having everyone over?"

"Everyone as in.. everyone?"

"Yeah."

"Mon, honey. Our house isn't _that _big."

"Sure it is."

"Are you dillusional? Let's count, shall we? Rachel, Ross, Emma, Phoebe, Mike, Frankie, Aubrey, Joey and.. well Joey. Nine people, plus us four. Fourteen!"

"Chandler."

"What?"

"Thirteen! Nine plus four is thirteen."

"Hey. Focus. Thirteen people in our house. It is going to explode, there will be an eruption of people."

"Oh, Chandler. It's been so long since we've seen everyone."

"Not that long."

"Nearly two months is longer than I've ever gone in eleven years without seeing Rachel. It's long enough for me. Please, it would mean so much. Just for the weekend. For me?"

"It doesn't really matter what I say anyway, does it?"

Monica clapped Chandler on the shoulder. "There's the spirit!"

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"Phoebe, we are **not **taking the cab, okay? We can't."

"Mike, we take the cab all the time! The cab is where Aubrey and Frankie were-"

"Okay," Mike held up his hands. "Got it. But we're going to Westchester. The cab is.. it's great for doing.. _that _in but for driving in? Not so much?"

"I use it all the time!"

"Yeah, but when was the last time Aubrey or Frankie were in the cab?"

"Yesterday! I took for a little joy ride!"

"A little joy ride? What are they, babies or drug addicts?"

"Mike," Phoebe put her hand on his wrist. "I promise I'll drive slowly and at least **try **to avoid pedestrians."

"And?"

"There's more! My god man, what is this!"

"You have to swear you won't pick up any hitchikers."

"One time! And you won't let it go."

"He ended up being wanted for eight counts of fraud!" Mike turned up the volume on the baby monitor for a minute and then turned it down when all he could hear was deep, even breathing.

"He was a nice man."

"He tried to steal two hundred dollars from you."

"Oh Mike," Phoebe shook her head patiently. "Don't you remember him teling me-"

"Pheebs. I don't care what that man told you. He was not going to adopt any kind of Ethiopian orphan or save an endangered whale."

Phoebe coughed, muttering as she did so, "Non believer."

"Anyway, we'll take the car, okay? And then we get home you can drive the cab around the block as often as you like, but I don't trust that it will make it to Westchester, okay?"

"Fiiiine." Phoebe crossed her legs. "I believe I deserve some kind of reward for being so agreeable, wouldn't you say?"

"Ah, that is where you are wrong. You see, my dear, your last reward turned into the two things sleeping upstairs."

"Damn it. There's always that."

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"Goodbye, Duck Junior," Joey stuck out his hand and shook the duck's wing. "Now, Michelle **said **she would feed you, okay? But she's a kid, right, so if you run into any trouble, you are going to call this number," Joey held up a Post-It note, with Monica and Chandler's phone number on it, followed by Joey's cell number. "Or," Joey showed Duck Junior the phone, "you can dial 911. Like this," Joey punched in the three digits. "Shit!" Joey hung up, realizing what he had done. "Hey listen, buddy if a bunch of men wearing yellow coats come to the door, hide, alright?"

Joey patted the duck's head, before grabbing his bag and leaving the apartment, waving a final farewell to the duck. "Hey, Joey!" Michelle, the twelve year old girl that moved into Monica and Chandler's old apartment with her mother, stepped out into the hall.

"Hey."

"Listen, about D.J.-"

"His **name** is Duck Junior."

"I know," Michelle sighed, "D.J stands for Duck Junior. Anyway, you said I have to feed him three times a day?"

Joey nodded. "Well, like, what if I just put a whole bunch of food in his bowl, enough so that he can be fed three times?"

"No, he's greedy, he'll just eat the whole thing."

"Fiine. So, what'd we say forty dollars for the whole weekend?"

"Sure," Joey said. "Listen, Michelle, I have to go, but take care of him okay? Make sure you play with him a lot, he gets lonely easily."

"He's a duck, Joey. He's supposed to be living outside, obviously he gets lonely. Anyway, have fun in Westchester. See ya later."

"See you," Joey nodded and then set out to wait for Mike and Phoebe to come pick him up.

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"I love this song," Emma bounced up and down in her seat. "Love it. It is my favorite song."

"Emma," Rachel massaged her temples, "sweetheart, I know you love this song. But do you think maybe we could shut off the CD just for a little while."

"Daddy, you like it right! Uncle Joey made me the CD and he is basically like your best friend, right?"

"What was Joey thinking?" Ross drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "What kind of person fills up an entire CD with one song? **One **song. That isn't normal."

"Head, shoulders, knees and toes," Emma sang out. She waved frantically at an SUV that was trying to overtake their car.

"Em, do you want to read a story, maybe? Daddy brought lots of good books, let's see we have.. Ross. Why the hell did you pack _The Anatomy of a Dinosaur, Fun With the Fabrosaurus _and _All About the Anatotian; The Lesser Known Dino!_"

"Rach, language," Ross sung out.

"Daddy," Emma said, in the exact same sing-song voice, "boring books!" She giggled and then lurched forward in her seat to plant a kiss on top of Ross' head. "I'm just kidding, Daddy. Well, your books are super boring, but I still love you."

"Thank you sweetie. See, Emma likes the books."

"Hey, Daddy I didn't say I liked the books, I said I loved you. Hugenormous difference there."

"Anyway, I don't care about the books. I'm just excited to see Aubrey and Frankie. And also Erica and Jack, but Aubrey and Frankie have cooler names."

"Okay, well," Rachel dug around in the Dora backpack Emma had brought and pulled out a juicebox and some animal crackers. "Food for the lady?"

Emma laughed. "Oh, Mommy. You're nuts. 'Tween you and Daddy you guys are lucky I'm not a fruitcake."

"Oh, I wouldn't say you're not a fruitcake. You're the fruitiest of them all," Rachel broke an animal cracker in half and handed it to Emma.

"Mommy," Emma's mouth dropped open. "You just killed the elephant."

"Honey, it's not real, it's just a cracker."

"Aunt Phoebe says that all animals have rights," Emma nodded seriously. "But also, she is a nymphomaniac, so I guess we-"

"What? She's a what?" Ross swerved the wheel, narrowly missing another car.

"Oh, Daddy. Uncle Joey told me he broke up with his girlfriend, you know the really pretty one, Lucy? Because she was nymphomaniac, and so I asked him what it meant and then **he **said it means you're nuts about animals. Like Aunt Phoebe."

"Just don't tell Aunt Phoebe that, okay?"

"Oh sure. My lips are sealed," Emma pretended to zip her lips shut and then threw an imaginary key out the window. For the rest of the car ride, she refused to say a word.

"Well," Ross said to Rachel, "at least we won't have to hear Head and Shoulders anymore."

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"Chandler! Chandler, would you get in here please!"

"Mon, little busy!"

"What can you **possibly **be doing?"

"Oh, I don't know. A little something Dr. Phil might call parenting. Jack is trying to eat Erica's foot."

"What is it with him and trying to eat people's body parts? Do you think Erica had a relative that like, sucked on people's noses or something?"

"Ah yes," Chandler nodded. "She confessed she did have an uncle, Dracula! The bastard passed on his horrible genes to our children."

"Chandler, bring the kids, I need you to see if the lightbulbs have any dust on them."

"Why?" Chandler lowered his voice and screwed up his face, turning to the twins. "Why is Mommy so insane?" He scooped one baby into each arm, before going into the kitchen. "Yup, Mon, lightbulbs look good."

"Chandler! You only looked for like, a second. Actually look. Should I dust some more, or do you think they look okay?"

"Monica, I think you should swallow the lightbulb whole, like the man from Ripley's Believe It Or Not, allow your intestines to clean it properly, and then regurgitate it. We'll make a load of money, and you discover a natural way to clean the lights."

Monica threw her dust-covered cloth on top of Chandler's head. "Hey, kids look!" He deposited the twins into the ground and then proceded to dance through the kitchen, around the breakfast bar and past the fridge.

"God, stop. I'm having flashbacks of your scarf dance," Monica cried, covering her eyes.

"Hey. That was a sexy dance. You said you loved that dance!"

Erica looked up at Chandler. "Mommy sexy," she said.

"Chandler! Our children are speaking-"

"I know," Chandler smiled fondly. "The language of porn. Isn't it beautiful. Erica, sweetie, no. No sexy. Don't say that word, okay? Bad."

"Hey!" Monica jumped down from the ladder she had been standing on. "You hear that? I hear a car! Oh my god! Chandler, look at my hair, I have dust everywhere, I'm not even dressed!" Monica grabbed Erica from the floor.

"Sexy," Erica said, playing with a piece of Monica's hair.

"Oh honey, not now, please not now. Just gurgle, okay? Say cute things."

"Mon," Chandler followed Monica with Jack in his arms. "They're your best friends. Who cares what your hair looks like."

"Baha, I do!"

Monica kneed the door open and came face to face with Rachel and Ross, who was carrying a sleeping Emma. Monica had always hated those girls that squealed all the time, but she found herself handing Erica off to Ross ("Yeah, don't mind me, I'm only your brother and nevermind the fact I'm carrying my daughter") and, with an earsplitting scream, throwing herself into Rachel's arms.

"My god," the two of them jumped around like eight year olds, evidently loud enough to wake up Emma.

"'Scuse me. Tryin' to sleep. Hey Aunt Monica," Emma kissed Monica''s cheek. "You look pretty," she scrambled down from Ross' arms.

"And that is why you're my favorite niece."

"Hello?" Phoebe, who had appeared out of the cab with Mike, all but shoved Frankie into Monica's arms. "Ring a bell?"

"Oh, Pheebs," Monica hugged Phoebe tightly, kissing Frankie's nose, as Rachel went over to hug Chandler.

"Oh my god," she exclaimed. "Jack is so big now! Yes you are, you're such a big boy!"

"Sexy!" He proclaimed.

"Ah, that's my boy," Rachel laughed.

Joey burst through the door. "Sorry I'm late you guys, there was a problem with Duck Junior. I think he's really going to miss me."

"Joey! Great to see you too."

"Ohh, everyone's here," Monica smiled. "All six of us. Feels like it's been forever."

"You guys found a good place to get coffee yet?" Ross said, half jokingly.

"No Ross, it's been two years and we're still going to Starbucks. Yes we found a good place. Not really the same without Gunther, though."

"What are we, fried liver?"

"Joe, not so sure you can fry liver."

"Sure you can!" Joey nodded. "You can fry anything!" He stuck his hand out towards Aubrey. "I could fry him if I wanted! Don't worry guys," Joey turned to Mike, "I won't, I don't think he'd fit in the pan. Just saying, anything's fryable."

"You guys want to unpack?"

"Mon, we're here for two days," Rachel said.

"Well just.. take off your coats?"

"Noo, Momy. I want to go to the park!" Emma exclaimed.

"Emma, we just got here," Rachel took Emma's coat. "We're not going to the park right now."

"Oh, Mommy, please! Aunt Monica, you said on the phone we would go to the park, because the park in Westchester is waaay better than the parks in the city, right?"

"Of course I did, sweetie. How about we just have a little bit of a rest, maybe have a snack, and then we can go to the park?" Monica offered.

"Well, alright. Sounds like a deal."


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the really long update! I had the flu for a long time, and then Monday I had gum surgery and wasn't up to much. But I appreciate the reviews and hope everyone's enjoying this chapter! I know that (like I said to Cassanda-Summer-Green) I know that Emma probably sounds a lot older than four years old. I have a bad habit, when I'm writing, of making my child characters sound really precocious, probably more so than is believable. Sorry if the end of the chatper is a little 'stiff' I found it such a difficult part to write; I literally have about four versions of the end of the chapter and more or less hated them all, but since I hated this one the least, I went with it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing at all! **

**Enjoy! (:**

Later that night, when the kids are in bed, Mike upstairs reading a story to Aubrey because it's the only way he **ever** falls asleep, the six of them are sitting around in the living room, and it's almost like the way it used to be, only they're older and there's no Gunther or ridiculously oversized coffee cups.

Rachel swatted Ross' hand away as he tried to massage her foot, her head resting on the back of the couch. "God, Ross, your massages always feel like you're trying to actually **pull **my foot off."

"That," he said, "is not possible."

"You," Chandler said, "are an idiot."

"Oh, I've missed you guys," Rachel smiled and threw her arm around Joey. "How are the neighbors?"

"Let's see," Chandler considered. "Anything is better than Janice-"

Monica laughed dryly. "Oh, right."

"What?!" Chandler cried. "You have to agree, the Maloney's aren't **that **bad. Better than," Chandler screwed up his face in a way that they had all thought not possible, jutted his hands out at an odd angle and said, in his best attempt at impersonating Janice, "Oh. My. God. My little Chanman!"

"Chanman? Were you her boyfriend or her child sex slave?" Phoebe gently hit Chandler's shoulder.

"Anyway, the Maloney's they're-"

"Horribly disgusting and dysfunctional in every single way possible?" Monica suggested.

"Okay, just because one time they.. they did it in their backyard." Monica gestured for Chandler to go on. "And because on a few occasions we have.. spotted them dancing naked in their house," Monica's eyes bugged. "Okay! Dancing to Paula Abdul songs and throwing marshmallows at each other."

"Ah," Ross drummed his fingers together, "they're the second coming of Ugly Naked Guy."

"But there's two of them!" Monica exclaimed. "Erica and Jack are going to grow up on the set of some kind of really weird porn film."

"Oh well. With Joey for an uncle, they're bound to find out everything sooner or later," Joey, in response, threw his shoe at Chandler.

"How's all faring on the love front?" Phoebe asked Joey.

"Couldn't be worse," Joey said cheerfully. "I'm screwed, if you think about it. I mean, I'm what,thirty five-"

"Joe, you're thirty eight."

"See! I can't even **count**! The last girlfriend I had was named Skyy-"

"Like the vodka?"

"Yes, like the damn vodka. She broke up with me because she said I had the mentality of an eight year old. I'm going to end up old and alone. I'll probably weigh like, eight hundred pounds and then I'll probably go insane from not being able to move, so Duck Junior and I will just end up together."

"Oh Joey, honey, that's not true," Rachel rubbed Joey's arm. "You'll meet someone!"

"And plus, we still have your Joey room," Chandler said. "So if worst comes to worst, you and Duck Junior can move in there."

"Ah, comforting. Moving in with my friends at the ripe old age of thirty five-"

"Thirty eight!"

"Damn it!"

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"Mommy," Emma kneeled in front of the park bench, her tiny hands a mixture of sandy and sticky, after the ice cream sandwich she'd just eaten. "Mommy, will you come build a sand castle with me?"

"Oh sweetie," Rachel lazily sat up, shivering in the warmth of the sun. "Look, give me ten minutes, okay? I'm just going to sit here with Daddy, and then I'll come make sand castles with you."

Emma sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry honey," Rachel bent down and kissed Emma's forehead. "Ten minutes, I pinky swear."

"Okay," Emma gave Rachel a small smile. "Ten minutes, real time?"

Rachel laughed. "Ten minutes real time." Ross and Emma had often joked about the difference between ten minutes real time, which meant ten minutes, or ten minutes, Mommy time, which could be anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour.

Rachel rested her head on Ross' shoulder. His eyes had been closed for maybe five minutes now. It was more of a nap than sleeping, and so Rachel felt no guilt in slipping his arm around hers and closing her own eyes. Emma would come to get her when the time was up, because for a four year old, her perception of time was normally pretty good.

For the time being, she just enjoyed the fact that she could sit out in the sun with the two people she loved most near to her, her best friends littered around the park, and not have to worry about having her purse stolen or being mugged.

It wasn't her purse that Rachel should have been worrying about.

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"Hey there," to Emma, the man looked friendly. He was wearing a pair of jeans like Daddy wore, and a green t-shirt.

"Hi," Emma waved at the man and itched a spot on her cheek, leaving a cluster of sandy ice cream.

"What's your name?"

"Emma."

"That's a pretty name."

"Thank you," Emma smiled. "What's your name?"

"Mike."

"I have an uncle Mike," Emma patted her pile of sand so that it looked a little bit like a castle.

"What are you making?"

"A sandcastle, silly."

"My daughter loves to make sandcastles. Her name is Mary."

"That's nice," Emma chewed on her lip, before digging a mote around the pile of sand.

"Would you like to come back to my van and meet Mary?"

"Sorry, my Mommy says I can't go anywhere with strangers."

"Oh, I'm not a stranger! I know your uncle Mike!"

"Really!" Emma was so temporarily amazed by this information, she stood up from her sandcastle.

"Yeah, of course! We went to college together! Come on, we'll just be a few minutes. Mary's in the van getting turkey sandwiches, you can have one."

"Only if I can take an extra one for my uncle Joey, 'cause he loves turkey sandwiches."

"Sure thing," Mike nodded.

Emma followed Mike, like the story her Mommy read to her about the Pied Piper. And then the whole thing was over in fifteen seconds. Emma realized that, as Mike picked her up by the collar of her pink dress and threw her into the car, that there was no Mary or turkey sandwiches. And as he got into the front seat and drove away even faster than Aunt Phoebe, Emma also realized that his name probably wasn't really Mike.

Nobody saw any of this, aside from a small baby sitting in his pram who, being eight months old at the time leanred nothing from it.

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.**

"Ross, time?" Rachel asked groggily, elbowing Ross in the side when he didn't answer.

"Two fifty nine," Ross said, mid yawn.

"Gotta go."

"No," Ross pulled Rachel back onto the bench.

"I have to. I promised Emma I'd make sandcastles with her."

"Fine," Ross nodded. "I love you," he smiled.

"Cute," Rachel kissed Ross briefly, "but not going to convince me. I told Emma ten minutes, real time. Not Mommy time."

Rachel headed for the tree that Emma had been playing under moments ago, only to realize she was gone. Rachel turned on her heel and headed over to the slide, which was occupied by a terrified Erica, her tiny mouth open in a silent scream as she whizzed down the circular slide. When she saw no Emma, she changed her direction and went over to the monkey bars and then the teeter totter, the swings, the jungle gym, the snackbar.

"Hey," Rachel asked Monica, "do you know where Emma is?"

Monica was sitting in the sandbox with Jack. "She was just over there a second ago," Monica pointed to the tree.

"Yeah. She's not there anymore," Rachel bit on her nail, which up until that second, have been perfectly manicured, thanks to the at home spa her and Emma had done last week.

"You sure?"

"Yes! I looked all around for her."

"She'll be here somewhere, Rach. I can't even count how many times we thought we've lost Jack or Erica, and they were just hiding somewhere," Monica stood up, balancing Jack on her hip. "We'll look for her, okay?"

"Yeah,"

"Ross," Monica snapped her fingers. Ross sat up.

"Hm?"

"Come help us look for Emma, she's hiding or something."

"Hiding or** something**?" Ross stood up.

"Yeah, I mean, she'll have just wandered off," Monica assured Ross. "We'll go down by the river, you go up by the road. She'll be there somewhere."

Monica, Rachel and Jack took the river. "Chandler will be there if she comes back," Monica looked back to where Chandler sat opposite Erica, the two of them throwing sand at each other.

"Okay." Rachel tried to stop herself from going into full panic mode, because then she'd be imagining scenarios that involved Emma lying in a ditch, or drowning in the river. Instead, she concentrated simply on finding her daughter. The two of them split up once they got to the river, going in opposite directions to look for Emma. After walking the entire length of the river, looking in bushes, under benches, behind trees, Rachel was slowly but surely becoming worried.

She headed back, looking carefully under, into and behind any possible surface that could hold Emma, before running into Monica. "Any luck?" Monica asked.

Rachel swallowed. She felt like someone had a tight handle on her throat. "No," she croaked out. "You?"

"I'm sorry, honey. We'll go back and get Ross, okay? I'm sure he found her," Rachel noticed however, that even as Monica was soothing all of Rachel's worries, that she was holding Jack closer to her than normal, stroking her hair.

But when they found Ross a few minutes later, joined with Chandler and Jack, it was evident Emma hadn't been found. "Oh my god," Rachel's hands were shaking as she put them to her cheeks. "This isn't happening," she said, matter of factly, as though stating that it was Saturday, or that it was June.

"Okay, Rach," Ross put his hand on Rachel's back, pulling her close to him. "We'll go back to Monica and Chandler's, someone will stay in case Emma comes back, which I'm sure she will. We'll call the police and let her know we can't find her."

"I'll stay," Chandler volunteered. "But Mon, take Erica back, okay?" Chandler handed Jack over to Monica. "Hey, Rach? We're going to find her, okay?"

"Okay," Rachel smiled gently, as she and Ross, followed closely by Monica, walked off hand in hand, towards the house. Ross gently rubbing the place between Rachel's thumb and index finger. "Ross?"

"Yeah?"

"Do.. did you see her? At all? I mean, did you wake up for a second?"

"No," Ross shook his head. "No, I was out the whole time. I mean.. we would have heard her, if she had been.."

"Screaming?"

"Yeah," Ross squeezed Rachel's hand and she squeezed back, the two of them falling silent as they walked back to the house. Monica murmured quietly to Erica and Jack as they walked and when finally, they reached their house, Rachel was the first through the door, all but bursting into the hallway.

She headed towards the cordless phone, picking it up. "Should I.. 911?"

"Police station," Monica suggested, gently taking the phone from Rachel's hand, dialing the number for the police station, and then handing it back.

"H-hello?" Rachel's lip began to tremble when the man on the other end of the phone picked up.

"Hi, Westchester Police Station, how may I help you?"

"I'm.. I'm calling to report," Rachel swallowed, desperately trying to shoo away the tears that were filling her eyes. "A missing child," a choked sob came out. Ross motioned for Rachel to give the phone to him, but she shook her head. "Sorry," she said, pressing a hand to her eye. "My daughter, Emma. She's four. Just ten minutes, we were down at the park and I.. I fell asleep and when I woke up she was gone. No, we're just visiting friends. Yes. She's thirty eight inches tall, about.. thirty four pounds. White tights, black Mary Jane's, pink dress. No. No. Sure," Rachel gave the officer the address, before hanging up. "Thanks," she said, putting the phone back in it's cradle.

"They're coming as soon as they can," she whispered.

"You guys?" Phoebe had walked into the living room with Mike, each of them carrying a twin, Joey not far behind, holding a sandwich in one hand and a baby rattle in the other. "What's going on?"

"Emma's missing," Rachel said, more to the wall then to Phoebe.

"Oh, Rach," Phoebe put her hand to Aubrey's head. "I'm sorry."

"We just called the police," she said, again to the wall. "They're coming soon."

"Do you want anything? Tea?" Phoebe offered.

"Pheebs," Monica swallowed. "Why would she want tea?"

"God, I don't know, that's just what they always do in movies."

"It's okay," Rachel shook her head. "I.. do you think I should get photos, or something? Of Emma. I guess they need t-to see her."

Ross held his hand out to Rachel and together, the two of them went upstairs. "Oh my god," Monica shook her head. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Did she just.. disappear?" Jokey asked.

"I guess. I didn't see anything, with me **and **Chandler awake and all the other parents there.. you'd think someone saw something."

Upstairs, Rachel was sitting on the edge of the spare bed, her hands up to her ears. "Ross. This kind of thing doesn't happen in god damn Westchester. Emma's lived in New York her entire life, nothing's ever.. happened to her."

"I know," Ross said gently, rubbing Rachel's back. "Rach, sweetie, they're going to find Emma, okay? Chandler's down there and I bet he's got everybody looking for her, and I'm sure that when the police come they'll find her really quickly."

"Promise?" Rachel asked, and her voice sounded so little and innocent it made Ross feel awful.

"I promise," he kissed the top of her head as Rachel grabbed a handful of photos from her wallet, but the truth was that Ross didn't feel as confident as he sounded; it was his daughter too, his little baby Emma, he was much more worried than he let on. But Rachel and Ross had the kind of relationship that if Ross becoming worried, started to pace, his hands starting to tremble, she'd go right over the edge.

"Come on," Ross led her downstairs.

It was the kind of situation Rachel hated; she had always dealt poorly under pressure. She could remember in seventh grade having to give a debate on whether or not uniforms should be allowed in school. She got as far as opening her mouth, before she threw up all over the microphone. She'd been fired from the debate team. But this time was different, because it wasn't some stupid debate in front of her school. It was her daughter missing.

"Rach?" Ross nudged Rachel's shoulder.

"God. Sorry, yeah," Rachel shook her head slightly, as though she was trying to shake out her fear.

"Come on."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the awesome reviews, I'll answer them all next chapter! With the clocks going forward, and me being busy this weekend, I didn't have a lot of time to write, but I hope you like the new chapter! It's a little short, but I'll make up for it in the next one. Enjoy! (:**

"I can't believe we're just supposed to sit tight," Rachel pressed her hands together tightly, interlacing her fingers. "Does he **have **kids? Does he get it? Our daughter is missing, and he wants us to sit tight."

"Rach," Ross said tentatively, his arm around her shoulders, "we have to be here, in case she-"

"I know, Ross, I know the answer to that question. I just.. I can't sit here and do nothing while they're out trying to find her."

"You're right," Joey had abandoned his sandwich, and was balling it into a napkin, but he tossed it into the coffee table now, and looked up at Rachel. "We should go. We should go and look for her. Look, Officer Vianni didn't tell us we weren't allowed to look, right? He just said that either you or Ross should be at home so they can call you, but he never said some of us couldn't go looking."

"Yeah," Mike stood up, holding Aubrey. "Sure. Me, you, Chandler, Ross?"

"I should stay here," Ross said, rubbing his temples.

"It's okay," Rachel said quietly. "You should go."

"I can stay, I should, I-"

"No, Ross, I want you to go but just.. one thing?"

"Sure."

"Please bring her home," Rachel's voice was little more than a whisper.

Ross had looked relatively calm up until now, but the waves of worry and sadness visibly washed over him as the words of Rachel sunk in. He kissed Rachel's forehead and said, "I.. I'm going to do everything I can."

"Okay."

The four of them left, Ross a little hesitantly and then they could hear the cars pulling out of the driveway.

"I used to watch documentaries about this," Rachel said. "You know, about kids that go missing in the grocery store or at the fair, and.. all it takes is two seconds and you never see them again. And I just.."

"Rach," Monica kissed Erica's head of blond curls, before putting her down on the floor beside Jack. The two of them stared intently at each other for a few seconds, before crawling off to find blocks and monster trucks. Aubrey and Frankie meekly followed. "Rach, they're going to find her. Kids disappear all the time, you know that right? I mean, Ross and I ran away from home like, a hundred times when we were kids and our parents always freaked out, but we came back."

"Because you were scared?" Phoebe asked.

"No. Not really. I always got hungry."

"Emma's only four. She's by herself, she's never even had a sleepover. She won't.. she wouldn't run away," Rachel bit her trembling lip. "I just keep thinking of that litle girl, that beauty pageant kid? She was like six, and she disappeared and then her parents.. they found her in the b-basement."

Monica moved over to the couch. "That.. that was different, because somebody killed her and they never even found out who it was, a lot of people thought it was her parents."

"Maybe somebody did take Emma and maybe.." Rachel shuddered. "I just.. I can't."

"I know Rach," Monica said gently, pulling Rachel towards her. "Everything's going to be fine," she whispered in Rachel's ear, rubbing her back.

Frankie giggled over something, Jack and Emma fought over a block. Rachel wished for her daughter to be okay.

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D**

"Look man," Chandler turned to Ross. The two of them had gone together to look for Emma, while Joey and Mike had gone in the opposite direction. "They're gonna find Emma."

"Yeah."

"This neighbourhood look okay to you?" Ross asked.

"Hm?"

"To look for Emma, does this place look alright?"

"It looks like it's full of drug addicts," Chandler absent mindedly locked his door.

"Good."

"Ross.. usually, I mean, people that are kidnapping kids, they have a tendancy to not hide in obvious places."

"So, what?" Ross's voice retorted to that high, squeaky octive it always reached when he was nervous. "You think we should look in Briarcliff Manor?"

"No."

Chandler was quiet then, and they turned down onto the street, driving slowly past rundown houses with Christmas lights still strung up and beer bellied men sitting in crowds on their front lawns, smoking. "Charming," Chandler muttered as one of the men flipped them off.

"Damn it," Ross muttered. "I can't even think straight, I don't know where to go."

"Okay, Ross, listen, Officer Vianni knows what he's doing. When I was down at the park, he told me he was going to have squad cars all over town, he's going to stop people on their way out of the city. They're going to turn this place upside down until they find her, alright? And this, this us looking for Emma, it's great, because I want to find her so badly, you know I do, but our chances of actually finding her are slim. So what do you say we just go down to the park, see if we can talk to anyone that saw Emma, and then we'll go back to our place?"

"I told Rachel I'd bring her back."

"I know, man. We'll go down to the park, and we'll look. You told her we'd do everything we can and we will."

"Okay," Ross turned the car back around. "Okay."

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D**

"God damn it! Would you just shut up!"

Emma felt like she was going to explode. She always hated small spaces and whenever her and Daddy played hide and seek, she could never hide under the bed covers or in the closet, because she always felt like there wasn't enough air. And now she was in a black bag, like the kind she took to soccer, and there was tape around her mouth, rope around her legs and arms, and she was sweating bad.

She couldn't see anything, just feel the black fabric and the zipper. She tried to say something, yell it out of the duck tape, but no noise would come out. All the fabric and the tape didn't stop the tears that were coming from Emma's eyes.

This was the worst feeling in the entire world, Emma knew for a fact. One time, her and Mommy and Daddy stayed up till 11:11, watching movies or something, so they could all make a wish. Emma had wished for a time machine, and now she wished it would come true. Because she would take that stupid time machine and go back to the park, and she never would have gotten in the car with the man.

Emma should have know, she scolded herself desperately, the tears coming faster and faster. It was the thing her Mommy always told her, because they lived in the biggest (and the best)city in the world. "Emma sweetheart, never, ever, go anywhere with strangers." And Emma had always looked at her Mommy like she was crazy and said, "Mommy, I'm not stupid."

But Emma was stupid, she was really stupid, because she had gotten into the van with the man, and she'd believed his big fat lie about the sandwiches. Emma just wanted her Mommy and Daddy.

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D**

"Look," Officer Vianni held a school picture in his hand, of a little girl with blond hair and blue eyes, smiling up at the camera, wearing a red dress. "You recognize her?"

The woman bounced her toddler on her hip. "She was here, with her parents or something."

"Did you see or hear anything suspicious about this girl?"

"No," she shook her head. "No, I don't think so. She was just playing, and then I took Polly down to the lake to feed the ducks, and when I came back she was gone, and you were here."

"That's her father," Officer Vianni pointed to Ross, who was talking with another officer and a young man. "You recognize him?"

"I don't think so. I might have seen him, on that bench maybe."

"And you say you know Monica and Chandler Bing?"

"Yes sir," the woman rubbed a line of spit from Polly's mouth.

"Can you think of anyone that would want to harm them or their friends in anyway?"

"No. I don't think so.. I mean Monica bugs the hell out of some people, she's kind of crazy, but I like her. And Chandler's nice, he's a funny guy. Nobody would want to seriously hurt them."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Listen, I've gotta get going, I left my ten year old son at home and I have to make dinner. I'm sorry I don't know more, but I'll keep my eye out," the woman exchanged her name (Camilla Fulton) and her number, before leaving.

"Any luck?" Ross asked, leaving the man and coming to stand next to Officer Vianni.

"Not with anybody here. From what we know so far, the only people here were you guys, Camilla, that young man over there and, presumably, whoever is responsible for Emma's disappearance."

"And you said you sent another officer to our house?" Chandler asked.

"Yes," Officer Vianni nodded. "Listen, I have no doubt in my mind that Emma has either wandered off or has been taken by someone. But it's standard procedure, to have everyone that was present at the time of the disapperance be questioned."

"So.. there will be officers that think Rachel or.. or someone else has something to do with Emma gone missing?"

"No, they're not out to accuse them it's just.. they've got to ask them. It's probably wise for you and Chandler to go back to the house as well, and we'll keep you updated, calling you when we find out anything new, okay?"

"Alright," Ross sighed. "You seriously have no leads? Nothing?"

"I'm afraid not. Real life isn't at all like CSI."

"Yeah. I know," Ross extended his hand and shook Officer Vianni's. "Thank you so much."

**F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D.S.F.R.I.E.N.D**

When Ross and Chandler walked into the house, Rachel was sitting on the couch, leaning on Monica, a tall police officer sitting across from her with a notepad. Phoebe was kneeling on the ground, talking nonsensically to the four kids, her eyes glued on Rachel and the officer. "Yes, yes, and then they were all happy," she said, in the general direction of Erica, tossing a Beanie Babie at them.

Upon seeing Ross, Rachel stood up. "No?"

Ross took Rachel into his arms. "Not yet."

"Ross," Rachel clung to him tightly, "they think we know something. After he asked me if we saw anything, he asked if any of us had accidentally let Emma wander off, or if maybe we had taken her somewhere."

"Rach," Ross said soothingly, "Oh Rach. They've got to, they have to ask us-"

"But... the bastards should know that. W-we.. why do they think we would do anything.. anything at all to ever hurt her?"

"I don't know," Ross gave in, leading Rachel to the couch. "I don't know."


End file.
